Last night, Qualcomm announced plans for its next-generation ARM-based processors to set performance benchmarks for Windows PCs. The move is intended to drive the market for the Arm processor family on the PC side and strengthen Qualcomm’s voice in PC-based processors.
Qualcomm is serious about upgrading its PC processors, announcing plans last night for a next-generation ARM-based processor that will “set the performance benchmark for Windows PCs” and rival Apple’s M-series processors.
Dr. James Thompson, Qualcomm’s chief technology officer, announced plans for the new processor at the company’s 2021 investor conference. It is scheduled to launch in 2023, with samples available to hardware customers within the first nine months of launch.
According to The Verge, the new processors will be developed by the Nuvia team, which Qualcomm acquired earlier this year in a $1.4 billion deal. Nuvia was founded in 2019 by three former Apple employees who had previously worked on Apple’s A-series processors.
Qualcomm has also pledged to lead in “sustained performance and battery life” to compete with Apple’s best-in-class M-series processors. In addition, Qualcomm will enhance its Adreno graphics processor with the goal of providing desktop-level gaming capabilities for its future PC products.
Qualcomm has tried to break into the PC processor space before, with its Snapdragon 8cx processor series and its collaboration with Microsoft on the Surface X’s SQ1 and SQ2 processors. However, while Apple’s Arm-based processors offered revolutionary power consumption figures when the M1 series was introduced last year, Qualcomm’s efforts on the PC front have been less than spectacular.
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